What is going on in the Dundalk sky? At the beginning of April, North Point Village resident Darwin Beasley, local nun Sr. Mary Lambert Rossi of St. Rita Roman Catholic Church and an unidentified Dundalk resident reported seeing unsual lights in their neighborhoods. Pat Helfrich, a resident on Yardley Drive in Dunlogan, seconded Rossi’s observation as she told The Eagle that she spotted unique lights in the sky on April 7 around 11 p.m., which was about the same time as Rossi’s observation.

“I have no idea what is was,” Helfrich noted. “I thought it was a spotlight, but there is no spotlight that is on that time of night.” Helfrich said there were five white lights and that one light stood stationary while the other four created a moving pattern. The speed of the lights is what impressed Helfrich; she said they “shot out” of a figure-eight pattern at a quick rate — while there was no noise. Rossi stated that she only saw the lights in the clouds and they vanished in the clear sky. Helfrich believes that the lights were visible away from the clouds and that the clouds took away some of the light. “The lights would have been brighter if it was not for the clouds,” Helfrich added. “There was nothing coming from the ground. It was all in the sky.” A School Lane resident called to say that she saw similar milky-white dot-like lights on April 7 around 11 p.m. Her story differed from the others in that she reported six white lights and said that one light stood stationary. Moreover, she said her observation lasted for more than three hours. Last week, The Eagle received additional calls from residents in Charlesmont, Graceland Park and Old Dundalk about seeing more lights as recently as Sunday, April 28, in that same 10 to 11 p.m time frame. A Charlesmont resident did not give his name, but told The Eagle that he saw unusual nights as recently as Sunday, April 28. His observation was similar to the others, as it was on a cloudy night at 11 p.m. “I saw four distinct lights that turned into one light as they circled around counter-clockwise into a pattern,” the man said. Graceland Park resident Charles Schutz sent an e-mail that matched the descriptions of Rossi’s and Helfrich’s observations. Not only did it match the Charlesmont resident’s experience, it was on the same night and at almost the same time. Schutz witnessed the light show from his Youngstown Avenue home between midnight and 1 p.m. “I looked up in the sky and there was four white ‘clouds’ spinning around counter-clockwise, coming together eventually and then bursting apart to form the four white clouds again, spinning counter-clockwise,” Schutz wrote. “I watched it for awhile, then went inside and re-read the article in The Eagle, which said that the police had no reports of ‘sightings’. “So I called 911 and reported it. Because it was not ‘an emergency’, a police car never even came to check it out.” Schutz was taking out his recyclables and that is when he came across the unique lights. “I waited outside just in case a police car came and I continued to watch the white balls of light dance around in circles for about a half hour when they disappeared at 1 a.m. — almost exactly.” Glenn Catherman also told The Eagle that he saw unexplained lights at his home near the end of Merritt Boulevard at Sollers Point Road. “It thought it might have been a helicopter, but they don’t move that fast,” Catherman said. His description was closer to that given by Beasley, who only saw one white dotted light in the North Point Village sky but said that light seemed to change into an orange swirl on Wednesday, April 10. “It was one light and it would go from side to side and it would go up and down and became a red dot,” Catherman said. Catherman said he also saw the lights on Sunday, April 28, but said it was earlier in the evening, between 9:30 and 10 p.m. He said that his light show only lasted a few minutes and not over an hour like the others. “It would disappear and then come back fast,” Catherman said. “It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”